Thankful: November 10th

A few days ago my thankfulness was pointed towards this county I returned to after being away.  The place I never wanted to come back to.  Yet I found myself here raising a family.



Today, I want to go even deeper than that and tell you how I'm thankful for my community.

Counties are made up of a few towns which are generally "incorporated" and a few townships which are not incorporated.  Ok...this is good for the South and maybe no where else but that's just fine because the South is cool like that.

I grew up in the county seat...well actually two miles out of the city limits.  When I was older we moved to the unincorporated township that my mom grew up in (which is a far distance from the county seat.  Guys I'm talking four miles!)

I went to school in this unincorporated township from kindergarten to sixth grade.  My grandpa helped form the Volunteer Fire Department across from his house.  My great grandparents gave the land for the elementary school to be built post depression.  My great grandpa ran the general store for the area. When I was 9 months pregnant with our first child my husband and I relocated to the house beside that general store.

This is the kind of rural place where you know your neighbors....to a point.  You grew up going to one of the churches (I believe its safe to say there are just under ten in a four mile radius.  I grew up going to the United Methodist Church just a mile from our home.) Even if you weren't a member of one of them you still went to every vacation bible school, revival, and bazaar they offered up!

You were in school with your cousin(s) and even if you weren't truly related you told everybody you were.  Honestly, you probably were related somewhere down the line.  In the South, in small towns there are a few last names that intermingle with a few others.  Our roads are dotted with family connections.

You may have even had a family member as your teacher or assistant one year.

This is the kind of area where you hear a fire whistle go off then you immediately turn up the scanner and plan the meal you'll take to their house tomorrow.  Not only do you want to feed them good food and show them love but you want to know every detail of the event and you cannot wait until your hair appointment on Saturday.



This is the community where tractors still take to the highway and slow the heavy footed drivers down if just for a three minute span in their day.

Here is where dogs still run free and trucks are planted beside the road at dusk and dawn because muzzle loader season just came in.

The thing that goes unmentioned about these places is this:  If you've been here long enough you're part of a club you don't even know about.  Long enough may be defined as your grandpa was respected by so many in the community and that's good enough reason to admit in you in.  Long enough could be you moved here last month and you've set a spell and talked to the folks who have been here all their lives.  You've made friends and made a connection while at Skate Night.

The fact of the matter is you don't know you're a part of something so wonderful until the most awkward events happen and the community comes out to support you like you would never believe.

That's how we found out we were in the club.  This past weekend this awesome community rallied us and fed some of the best barbecue to the folks that turned out.  That's a big compliment from me....an Eastern style BBQ girl.  I don't care for Lexington style but this weekend I couldn't get enough of Mr. Eaton's, and the Taylor Brothers bbq.  This past weekend our community worked hard on a day off from their work to help us out.  And boy did they do a fine job.

At the end of the day when we met up with the fellas from shindig I realized I was a part of the club....probably the most amazing group you can be a part of.  I was a true member of this community.

We strive all our lives to be apart of something.  Some of us did stupid things as we grew up to be cool and liked and accepted.  Some of us carried that into college and paid a big ole fee to be apart of some greek family.  Some of us found it in sports.  Others of us still look for it.

I found my club....I found my family....I found my community.



It's not just what they did....its why they did it.  They knew we were down and they wanted to lift us up.

Time to admit I kept my composure pretty well!  Until my 2 year old took my sunglasses off (not funny Little Man).  The point of those big glasses is to cover the tears and showing of emotion right?

When we left I took some time to myself and cried like a newborn baby.  People who I've known all my life and people who I've yet to meet came out to show some love.  That will knock you on your butt and there is no prettier way to put it.

I may have wanted to stay away from this place.  I may have had ambitions to do things in places larger.  I know now I did not necessarily make my life's path.  Someone else, someone bigger, knew this was the place for me to come back to.  Someone else knew I'd be better off and experience what they knew I needed right here where I was raised.

I'm so honored to be apart of this community.

I'm so thankful for this little spot called Clarksville.